She's a champ! Melissa Rycroft dances despite injury

Meagan Morris is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist living in New York City. In addition to SheKnows, Morris contributes to many publications including The New York Times, Yahoo! News, PopEater, NBC New York and Spinner. Follow he...

Melissa Rycroft powers through the pain

Melissa Rycroft went from the hospital bed to the Dancing With the Stars stage in less than 24 hours. How did she do it? Girl power, of course!

Melissa Rycroft wasn't about to let a serious neck injury derail her chances on Dancing With the Stars. The former Bachelor star opted to perform her tango with partner Tony Dolovani just hours after she injured her C4-C5 disc.

Why did Rycroft perform? Her doctors said it was okay — and she risked elimination if she didn't.

"What I was told was that it was not an option to just sit out one night," she told reporters after the performance. "So if I didn't get clearance, it meant it was severe enough not to let me come back."

Rycroft's injury was scary, but she's not the only one to face aches and pains as a result of the show. Last season, Melissa Gilbert and William Levy were injured. Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey also aggravated an old car accident injury and was required to have back surgery in 2011.

Still, we think Rycroft's great attitude will help her health pretty quickly. Let's hope she doesn't reinjure herself in the remaining weeks. After all, Dolovani gave the important reminder that DWTS isn't worth permanent injures.

"In the end, this is just a dance competition, and all I wanted was for Melissa to be all right," he said Monday night. "The first thing that crossed my mind was that I wanted her to be okay, because she's a mom. I thought: Will she ever be able to pick up her baby again?"